Terrorism

Special Correspondent | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – – Two projects in Mouls show a different side to the devastated northern Iraqi city, as younger people there celebrate the end of the ISIL’s reign. The fighting is all but done in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the damage caused by three years of […]

Hizbullah

Hezbollah and Syrian Army Liberate Large ISIL Enclave: Nasrallah

contributors

By TeleSur | – – Following the joint offensive, the Islamic State group only controls 40 square kilometers on the Syrian side, and 20 on the Lebanese side. A joint offensive between Shia resistance movement Hezbollah and the Syrian army has liberated the majority of a significant enclave controlled by the so-called Islamic State group, […]

Counter-Terrorism

Can Iraq save Tal Afar from ISIL without Destroying the City?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | – – [N.B. The offensive against ISIL (Daesh) in Tal Afar began on Sunday. – JC] Intensive air raids, secret political talks and military forces gathering on the outskirts of the city: Everything points to the battle of Tal Afar – almost the extremists’ last stand in Iraq . […]

Afghanistan

ISIL in Afghanistan Resilient despite Kabul Offensive

contributors

By Frud Bezhan. | ( RFE/RL) | – – A relentless air-and-ground campaign against the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS) affiliate in Afghanistan does not appear to have radically diminished that militant group’s ability to inflict deadly attacks or prevented it from expanding its geographical reach in the war-torn country, analysts asked to assess progress […]

Featured

Trump Pledged to Carpet Bomb ISIL, but Little Lebanon is Taking them On

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Lebanese Army has mobilized to clean out an ISIL enclave in a mountainous region on the border with Syria, Jurud al-Qaa and Jurud Ra’s Baalbak. Some 600 ISIL terrorists had controlled about 36 square miles in the hills, but already on late Saturday, one day […]

Counter-Terrorism

Are ISIL recruits more street gang members than zealots?

contributors

By James L. Gelvin | (The Conversation) | – – The recent terrorist attacks in Spain and Finland once again compel us to ask: Who joins the [so-called] Islamic State [group], and why? As a professor of modern Middle Eastern history, I have spent the majority of my professional life studying the region, its culture, […]

Counter-Terrorism

UN Report: Muslim Youth going to fight in Syria mostly not Motivated by Islam

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Lizzie Dearden at The Independent reviews a new report by the United Nations Office of counter-terrorism report. Some 25,000 young men are said to have made their way from Europe to fight the regime in Syria, and as the war winds down, many will return. Understanding […]

Iraq

Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster

contributors

Bryan G. Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Book excerpt from the just-published Counter Jihad: America’s Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria [CLICK]: At the time of the writing of this book [in July 2016], Iraqi Army ordinance specialists are cleaning the town (Ramadi) of thousands of IEDs planted by ISIS. ISIS fighters […]

Counter-Terrorism

Losing Cities, can ISIL strike Iraq, West from Mountain Bases?

contributors

By Dashty Ali | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) | – – Having been driven out of Mosul, the extremist Islamic State group is doing what Al Qaeda did before them: setting up new bases in the rugged northern Hamrin mountain area. The extremist Islamic State group has lost its capital in Iraq, after they have been […]